2011
See the main advocacy page for information on campaigns in which The Writers' Union of Canada is currently engaged.

2010
To support the creative work that is the heart of Canada's cultural economy, The Writers' Union of Canada urges the Government of Canada in its next budget to:

• Introduce a Copyright Copyright-Income Deduction for creators, modeled on that
  used in the province of Quebec.
• Exempt from taxation subsistence grants for creators administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
• Increase the Public Lending Right Commissionís budget to bring its hit rate up to a level more aligned with the hit rate established 18 years ago.

Pre-Budget Consultations for Budget 2010 (42.8 KB PDF)

2009
Creators are at the heart of a knowledge-based economy, producing the intellectual property on which the entire cultural sector is built. Without the individual artist who dedicates her or his working life to creative expression, developing screenplays and composing opera scores, writing books and filling galleries with paintings and sculptures, all of these industries would collapse.
Pre-Budget Consultations for Budget 2009 (152 KB PDF)

2008
The 2008 Federal election saw issues crucial to the interests of Canadian creators come to the fore. Major cuts to arts funding totalling $60 million had just been enacted and copyright legislation that would have had a direct impact on creators was being addressed in the House of Commons. The Union provided tools and encouragement to our members to get involved directly with MPs and parties to support the needs of artists. READ MORE

2007
The Union marched on Parliament Hill in response to the government's cuts to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). This march was the Union's first "Awakening" event.

2006
TWUC presented a Brief to the Law Amendments Committee of the Nova Scotia Legislature and a Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance: Canada's Writers Promote Canada in a Competitive World.

2005
TWUC presented a Brief to the Ontario Ministry of Culture’s Advisory Council for Arts and Culture Status of the Artist Sub-Committee; a Brief to the Standing Committee on Justice on Bill C-2: a Criminal Code Amendment on Child Pornography; and a Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance: Writers, Productivity and the Nation's Standard of Living.

2004
TWUC delivered Professional Development Workshops on the Business of Writing to writers in eight Canadian cities.

2003
The Union and its members celebrate thirty years of service.
TWUC presented a Brief to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on the State of the Book Industry and a Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee of Banking, Trade and Commerce.

2002
The Union successfully negotiated an emergency fund for writers who have lost royalties as a result of General Publishing's financial crisis.

2001
The Union successfully lobbied for the passage of amendments to the outdated Copyright Act.

2000
TWUC developed a program to recognize librarians who conducted an outstanding reading series.
TWUC's Copyright Committee identified the need for a Creators Rights Association (CRA) in response to the Trade Relations as part of Property Rights (TRIP) agreement. The CRA was incorporated in 2002.
TWUC presented a Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Heritage with respect to its statutory review of the copyright act.

1999
The Freedom to Read Award is created and given to Senator Lorna Milne.

1998
The Union’s Social Justice Task Force completed its final report.

1997
TWUC initiated the Postcard Story Competition for emerging writers.

1996
TWUC initiated the Writing for Children Competition.

1995
TWUC established an Electronic Communications Committee to bring the Union into the age of electronic communications.

1994
The Union implemented a Manuscript Reading Service for fiction manuscript evaluation.

1993
The twentieth anniversary of The Writers’ Union of Canada was celebrated in Ottawa at the 1993 AGM. The anniversary (fourth) issue of Who’s Who in the Writers’ Union of Canada was published.

1992
The Union conducted its first random royalty audit on behalf of a member; worked with Common Agenda Alliance for the Arts in support of concurrent jurisdiction for culture in the constitution; and facilitated the Committee’s first national meeting of racial minority writers and pledged support for the Committee’s future work.

1991
The Union lobbied vigorously against devolution of culture to the provinces in the constitutional negotiations; lobbied the Canada Council to have representative nonfiction grant juries; and lobbied for libel law reform. The Racial Minority Writers Committee was established.

1990
The Union initiated a Charter of Rights challenge against recent legislation censoring “drug promoting literature”; opposed and publicized “libel chill,” a spate of libel charges laid against writers by influential persons; and campaigned against the imposition of the Goods and Services Tax on reading material.

1989
The Union protested Canada Customs border seizures, damage, and delays of shipments bound for gay and lesbian bookstores.
The Union joined in denouncing the imposition of a death sentence on author Salman Rushdie by the Ayatollah Khomeini.
The Union successfully lobbied for access by creative nonfiction writers to the Canada Council Readings program.

1988
The Union lobbied successfully for the passage of amendments to the Copyright Act, to encompass new technology and to allow for the introduction of collectives.
The Union successfully lobbied the Ontario government to pass Bill 188, allowing bookstores to open on Sundays.
CANCOPY (now Access Copyright) was established to financially compensate writers for the photocopying of their work. In 2003 Access Copyright distributed more than $20.5 million to rightsholders.

1987
The Union initiated the industry-wide Community Against Censorship, which successfully fought the passage of the federal government’s Bill C-54, the “anti-obscenity” bill.
The Union’s Book Pages Survey was conducted to raise the profile of Canadian books. The survey monitored the weekend book-review pages of thirty major newspapers over a six-month period, resulting in detailed statistics on percentages of Canadian books reviewed, reviews by and of women writers, etc. An award was given to the Whig-Standard of Kingston as the paper with the greatest coverage of Canadian books.

1986
The Union’s greatest victory to date has been the implementation of a Canadian Public Lending Right (PLR). Three million dollars was granted by the federal government to implement PLR. By 1993 over 8,400 writers received PLR payments totalling just over $5 million — an average of $821 per writer. PLR is a system by which writers receive compensation for their books held in public libraries. With the notable exception of the United States, similar systems exist in most countries of the industrialized world. At the initial meeting of the seed group of The Writers’ Union, it was resolved that Canadian writers must negotiate fair payment for the use and reuse of their work by libraries. The Union continues to lobby for increased funding to this program.

1984
The Union persuaded the Canada Council to institute, through its Arts Awards Services, a program of grants for non-fiction writers with a total value of $400,000.

1983
The Union amended its constitution to admit poets.
The first edition of Who’s Who in the Writers’ Union was published.

1982
The Union marched on Parliament Hill demanding Public Lending Right (PLR).

1981
The Union co-sponsored a Conference on Book Publishing with the Association of Canadian Publishers.

1978
The Union initiated the 1812 Committee, which successfully defended the arts community from funding cuts. The Union campaigned successfully for the introduction of “Schedule C,” which prohibits Canadian bookstores from importing remaindered foreign editions of Canadian books.

1977
TWUC established the guidelines for multiple simultaneous submissions of manuscripts, which were accepted as fair by both writers and publishers, thus enabling writers to more efficiently market their work.
The first Writers’ Union directory of members was published.

1976
The first model trade book contract was drafted and approved, thereby guaranteeing authors ownership of copyright, setting a royalty of ten per cent as the minimum standard for basic trade-edition books, and other essential rights. With a committee of teachers, the Union developed resource guides to assist teachers and promote the use of Canadian literature in the schools. The resource guides were marketed through the Writers’ Development Trust. The Union staged its first public protest against the banning of books.

1975
TWUC members picketed Coles for selling remaindered U.S. editions of their books.

1973
TWUC was founded in Ottawa with writers in attendance. Marian Engel was the first Chair.

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